Andy McNab

London, UK

Andy McNab is a former SAS soldier and best-selling author of “Bravo Two Zero” (1993), the account of his capture and torture in Iraq in the first Gulf War. By the time he left the SAS in 1993, he was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier.

During his career, Andy worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations.

In the Gulf War, he commanded the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol, an eight man patrol tasked with destroying underground communication links between Baghdad and north-west Iraq and with finding and destroying mobile Scud missile launchers. The patrol infiltrated Iraq in January 1991, but was soon compromised. A fierce fire fight with Iraqi troops ensued and the patrol was forced to escape on foot to Syria.

Three of the eight men were killed; four were captured after three days on the run; one escaped. One of the four taken prisoner, Andy was held for six weeks and was relentlessly tortured. By the time he was released he was suffering from nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder, kidney and liver damage and had contracted hepatitis. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service.

Andy has written about his experiences in the SAS in three best-selling books, “Bravo Two Zero” (1993), “Immediate Action” (1995) and “Seven Troop” (2008). “Bravo Two Zero” is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK.

Our Comment

"As a director of a Hereford-based security company, Andy developed and runs a specialist training course for news crews, journalists and members of non-governmental organisations working in hostile environments and war zones. The course is currently the only one of its kind in the world. He is also involved in training videos for the Ministry of Defence and lectures for the FBI."